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Airborne 03.31.15

The mission of training
new Air Force, Navy, Marine Corps and allied F-35 Lightning II
Joint Strike Fighter pilots and maintainers is moving to the 33rd
Fighter Wing, Air Force officials announced.

Final planning for the move is dependent on the results of the
ongoing environmental impact analysis process that is required by
the National Environmental Policy Act and designed to identify and
assess potential environmental impacts of the proposed action.

The first of the F-35s, a family of next generation, stealthy,
multi-role fighter aircraft, should begin arriving by 2010. The
wing will include Sailors, Marines, Airmen and allied military
members and all three versions of the new fighter: conventional
takeoff and landing, short take off and vertical landing, and
carrier variants. The Lightning II's advanced airframe, avionics,
propulsion systems, stealth and firepower will make it an
affordable, lethal, supportable and survivable aircraft for
warfighters around the globe.

The 33rd FW's F-15 Eagles will be redistributed to active-duty
and Air National Guard units, replacing older F-15s in the
inventory. The final F-15 is slated for reassignment in the summer
of fiscal 2010. The wing also will transfer from Air Combat Command
to Air Education and Training Command when it assumes the F-35
training mission.

In the next few years, AETC will stand up a new wing structure
for the F-35 training mission with approximately 2,200 people. It
is unknown at this time how many people will transfer from one
mission to another.

The 33rd FW is a combat-flying unit assigned under ACC's 9th Air
Force and a major tenant unit here.